Robespierre Might Have Approved
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Foreign Affairs | France | Strikes | terrorism — Comments (7) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
I have been watching with some interest the strikes going on in France. The short story is that the government of Nicolas Sarkozy wants to increase the time workers will need to pay into the national pension system before they are able to retire and draw benefits from it. Additionally, Sarkozy wants to make it easier for employers to be able to fire their workers.
Labor has revolted. And now, the revolt appears to have taken a dangerous turn:
As a national transit strike stretched into its second week, arsonists disrupted high-speed train service on four main routes on Wednesday. Government officials called the fires a "coordinated act of sabotage."
The early morning outbreak of fires on the electrical lines supplying the T.G.V. high-speed trains happened hours before talks between transit union and government officials. The negotiators met for more than four hours and agreed to continue on Monday, while strike-weary travelers endured the eighth day of a walkout with no end in sight.
The fires raised the question of whether the striking unions were losing control of their most militant members. Top union officials condemned the attacks and insisted that there was no proof of union involvement. Bernard Thibault, the secretary general of the Confédération Générale du Travail, a powerful union, said such attacks during a strike were "certainly designed to bring discredit to the profession."
Government officials also condemned the fires. They stopped short of blaming the unions.
I suppose that we will find out soon enough who is responsible for this. But whomever is responsible, it is obvious that the government of Nicolas Sarkozy is being put to its first major test. And all of France is wondering whether he is the reformer he promised to be, or whether he will back down and give into the traditional and desultory sociopolitical arrangement in France in exchange for peace.
I imagine that at the end of the day, a compromise of sorts will be reached. By all accounts, Sarkozy has tried to reach out to the unions even as he has sought to implement his reforms. But whether any compromise will advance the cause of reform or kill it in its cradle is another matter altogether. On that issue, I am not prepared to place any bets.
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Robespierre Might Have Approved 7 Comments (0 topical, 7 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
...but I second the idea.
The trouble is that unions have substantial rights in French law, and some of these are actually in the constitution.
So Sarko has to fight with at least one hand behind his back.
That doesn't mean he won't win. Public opinion is on his side, and he is not a weakling. Indeed, he has staked the success of his presidency on this, I would say, and will do whatever he can to triumph. The result is not likely to be much of a compromise, in my view.
"There isn't a man alive who hasn't wanted to boot an infant." -W.C. Fields
I think I may have erred in saying that the rights of trade-unions are embedded in the constitution.
"There isn't a man alive who hasn't wanted to boot an infant." - W.C. Fields
.....have a battle on his hands as difficult as the one the Marines fought on Iwo Jima. The only way he might be able to successfully conclude it might also to be to wreak the exact same havoc on the enemy as the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Marines did some sixty three years ago.
of Chirac in '94, and basically any candidate who is elected to challenge the socialst state. The government has always backed down and went back to being socialist. Sarko says he will not back down, we shall see. I think Sarko has a chance if the protesters go to far and alienate the Fraternatie!
Molon Labe!
...it becomes decisive. If Nicolas Sarkozy backs down and loses, it is over and he will end up in the dust bin of history as another reformer failure.
However, if he wins as Reagan did, he will be setting the stage for Frances revitalization as Margret Thatcher did for England in the 1980's.
The only question is how much steel is in Nicolas Sarkozy's spine. That is what will make the difference.
Wubbies World, MSgt, USAF (Retired):
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Two things about socialist states are true:
1) There is no economic rationale that any leader can stomach in the face of the threats of violence or actual violence, particularly in France.
2) The only time freeloaders want to work is when you threaten them with not being able to freeload any more. We see it in this country writ small (compared to France) with things like agricultural subsidies -- which were initially instituted as an "emergency response" to the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.
Sarkozy talks a good game and he even tacitly has the support of the majority of the French people, but that support is, I fear, quite passive and will evaporate once the radicals really start hurting people. Hugo Chavez will call him a fascist, Mahmoud will start shipping explosives to the terrorists, and Sarkozy will fold.
I have a theory about post-industrial welfare states that basically goes like this: they continue to grow and fester like gangrene until one of two things happens:
1) The people get so disgusted by their own incompetence that they really buckle down and push reforms through, even though that means confronting the entrenched and violent crazies, who they have coddled for so long. An internal revolution of sorts takes place and the parasites are exterminated.
2) They kill the host nation and it simply collapses because nobody is willing to do #1.
I'm betting on #2 in France, unless Sarkozy is the kind of French leader I've never seen in my lifetime.
for a young artillery officer with a pair of guns? Might be a good career move for such an officer.
Probably not. But one can dream.